Scams

From the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services:

Information for Consumer Service Issues can be found at: <http://www.800helpfla.com/>. This includes information on price gouging and how to sign up for the 'no solicitation' list -- i.e., if you do not want to get sales telephone calls at dinnertime!!

Often after a disaster, there are those people that set up scams -- and no doubt they are already out there preying on this recent disaster. Before you donate, check out the organization at the DOACS site that includes the "Gift Giver's Guide" -- if legitimate, they need to have filed with DOACS -- this information includes the name of the organization and a breakdown of how much money they took in last year and how much goes for administration -- this means you can find out what portion of donations are going to the stated program.

Gift Giver's Guide Online: <http://www.800helpfla.com/giftgiversguide>. This page has a a handy search function.

Hoaxes

There have been many e-mail messages forwarded 'like wildfire' that turn out to be hoaxes or scams. We can almost be guaranteed that these will only increase in the future.

A good site for checking these so-called 'Urban Legends' is: http://www.snopes.com/

Many e-mail 'warnings of dangers' are false, or are out-of-date information. Recommended safety practices when it comes to the Internet can be found at:
http://www.njsp.org/tech/safe.html

CDC has a site dealing with hoaxes about health, diseases, needlestick tales, etc. It includes information about one that is circulating about the link between breast cancer and the use of deodorants and antiperspirants: <http://www.cdc.gov/hoax_rumors.htm>.

EXTENSION RESOURCES

Information from Extension can be found at the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) Web site at: <http://www.eden.lsu.edu/Resource_Search.aspx>.

It should be noted that new information is being added to these sites on a daily basis -- so be sure to keep checking.

BE AWARE, BE ALERT, BE ALIVE!